Archives for February 2015

You Belong to Him

You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.(1 Corinthians 6:12-17)

Reflect

Apparently the Corinthians had been misapplying the words “I am allowed to do anything.” Some Christians in Corinth were excusing their sins by saying that (1) Christ had taken away all sin, and so they had complete freedom to live as they pleased, or (2) what they were doing was not strictly forbidden by Scripture. But Paul reminded them that their lives—especially their bodies—were no longer their own. They belonged to Jesus now. While Christ has taken away our sin, this does not give us freedom to go on doing what we know is wrong.

Many of the world’s religions teach that the soul or spirit is important but the body is not; and Christianity has sometimes been influenced by these ideas. In truth, however, Christianity takes very seriously the realm of the physical. We worship a God who created a physical world and pronounced it good. He promises us a new earth where real people have transformed physical lives. At the heart of Christianity is the story of God himself taking on flesh and blood and coming to live with us, offering both physical healing and spiritual restoration.

We humans, like Adam, are a combination of dust and spirit. Just as our spirits affect our bodies, so our physical bodies affect our spirits. We cannot commit sin with our bodies without damaging our souls because our bodies and souls are inseparably joined.

Respond

Knowing that your body belongs to Jesus, how does that affect your perspective on your life and priorities? How do you show your commitment to this truth?

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Tough Love

Read 1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.

Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.
(1 Corinthians 5:3-8)

Reflect

The Corinthian believers had refused to deal with a specific sin in the church: A man was having an affair with his mother (or stepmother). The church was ignoring the situation, and Paul was saying that it had a responsibility to maintain the standards of morality found in God’s commandments.

To “hand [this individual] over to Satan” (1 Corinthians 5:5) means to exclude him from the fellowship of believers. Without the spiritual support of Christians, this man would be left alone with his sin and Satan, and perhaps this emptiness would drive him to repentance. “So that his sinful nature will be destroyed” (1 Corinthians 5:5) states the hope that the experience would bring him to God to destroy his sinful nature through repentance.

Putting someone out of the church should be a last resort in disciplinary action. It should not be done out of vengeance, but out of love, just as parents punish children to correct and restore them. The church’s role should be to help, not hurt, offenders, motivating them to repent of their sins and to return to the fellowship of the church.

Respond

God tells us not to judge others, but to accept them. Yet he also tells us not to tolerate flagrant sin because allowing such sin to go undisciplined will have a dangerous effect on other believers (1 Corinthians 5:6). Have you ever had to confront someone about sin? How do you motivate others to repent? Why is anger a danger when disciplining someone?

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The Mind of Christ

It was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?”

Reflect

Paul’s confidence was not in his keen intellect or speaking ability but in his knowledge that the Holy Spirit guided him. Paul is not denying the importance of study and preparation for preaching; he had a thorough education in the Scriptures.

Non-Christians cannot grasp the concept that God’s Spirit lives in believers. No one can comprehend God (Romans 11:34), but through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, believers have insight into some of God’s plans, thoughts, and actions—they, in fact, have the “mind of Christ.”

Respond

Don’t expect most people to approve of or understand your decision to follow Christ. It all seems so silly to them. Just as a tone-deaf person cannot appreciate fine music, the person who rejects God cannot understand God’s beautiful message. With the lines of communication broken, he or she won’t be able to hear what God is saying to him or her. Through the Holy Spirit we can begin to know God’s thoughts, talk with him, and expect his answers to our prayers. An intimate relationship with Christ comes only from spending time consistently in his presence and in his Word. For more on the mind of Christ, read and meditate on Philippians 2:5-11.

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The “Foolish” Plan of God

Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.

But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
(1 Corinthians 1:22-25)

Reflect

Many Jews considered the Good News of Jesus Christ to be foolish, because they thought the Messiah would be a conquering king accompanied by signs and miracles. Jesus had not restored David’s throne as they expected. Besides, he was executed as a criminal, and how could a criminal be a savior? Greeks, too, considered the gospel foolish: They did not believe in a bodily resurrection; they did not see in Jesus the powerful characteristics of their mythological gods; and they thought no reputable person would be crucified. To them, death was defeat, not victory.

The Good News of Jesus Christ still sounds foolish to many. Our society worships power, influence, and wealth. Jesus came as a humble, poor servant, and he offers his Kingdom to those who have faith, not to those who do all kinds of good deeds to try to earn his gifts. This looks foolish to the world, but Christ is our power, the only way we can be saved.

Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated his power even over death. And he will save us from eternal death and give us everlasting life if we trust him as Savior and Lord. This sounds so simple that many people won’t accept it. They try other ways to obtain eternal life (being good, being wise, etc.). But all their attempts will not work. The “foolish” people who simply accept Christ’s offer are actually the wisest of all, because they alone will live eternally with God.

Respond

Is Christianity against rational thinking? Knowing Christ personally is the greatest wisdom anyone could have. Christians clearly do believe in using their minds to weigh the evidence and make wise choices. In this passage Paul is declaring that no amount of human knowledge can replace or bypass Jesus’ work on the cross. Yet he provides us with the tools to give a well-reasoned argument concerning Christianity. How has knowing Jesus expanded your capacity to argue persuasively about the gospel?